


A magical friendship

by DawnWave



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU Bio Dad for 'Harry', Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Might continue if my muse comes back, No beta reader, Teacher Harry, refrenced teen pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23818207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnWave/pseuds/DawnWave
Summary: A case with no leads and a very specific victim type and MO leads to Reid calling a friend...
Relationships: Harry Potter & Spencer Reid
Comments: 6
Kudos: 294





	A magical friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Lily was 15/16 Hotch was 16/17 at a summer camp. This means I've changed the year that Hotch was born to 1963 and Lily's to 1964. She would have hidden her pregnancy with her robes and James would have helped her by saying that the child was his when she gave birth in the hospital wing. I know this seems weird but we can all be a bit careless at that age...

The case should have been a simple one. Sure it was on a par with some of the worst they had ever worked what with the fact that the unsub was raping and torturing his victims before dismembering them while they were alive but with that level of planning and execution, it should have been easy to get the unsub to slip up. It hadn't been. The unsub had left no DNA for them, the cuts lacked tool marks and the bodies were too clean considering everything that had been done to them. They hadn't even been able to tell what had been used to clean them before they were dumped. It was beginning to look like the case was going to go cold.  
  
Reid was staring at the board they had been using for an hour when Morgan walked in and put a cup of green tea next to him.  
  
“What do you see, Pretty Boy?”  
  
“Something I'm not sure how to react to,” Reid replied softly his eyes yet to move from the board.  
  
“Explain,” Hotch said bluntly, having walked in behind Morgan.  
  
“All the victims fit the same profile. Petit, well off, successful women that are all unbelievably well-liked due to their kind and giving nature. Our unsub is somehow changing the victim's natural hair colour to black and their eyes to the same shade of malachite green, leaving no evidence as to how.”  
  
“We know all of this Reid. While we don't like it and find it unnerving, you seem to be taking that harder than the rest of us. The question is why?” Rossi cut in.  
  
“Simple, they are all being made to look like one person and unless they somehow have a twin, the only place they could have met her was in the UK. I know that everyone is said to have a physical twin somewhere in the world but given what these victims are going through, that seems unlikely to be the case here.”  
  
“Pretty Boy are you telling me you know who the unsub is trying to make their victims look like?” Morgan asked in disbelief.  
  
“Yes. And if my suspicions are correct, she is the only one who will be able to help us catch this person. The only problem is...” Reid trailed off.  
  
“Is what?” JJ queried.  
  
“No, not now. It won't impact on the case and in all honestly, I don't have any proof as to if what I suspect is true.” Reid said shaking his head before pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialling a number.  
  
“Hey, sorry did I wake you? Really? It's 08:30 AM so it should be 04:00 AM in London, did you have to wake up early for a meeting? Oh, wait so where are you? Alright then, um, can you do me a huge favour and come to the police station then? It's really important. Great see you in 5 minutes then!” Reid hung up the phone and looked at it in amazement. “What are the odds?” He murmured.  
  
“What are the odds of what?” Hotch practically demanded.  
  
“The person that I said all our victims resemble and that I suspect may be able to help us? She's here, in Salem, as a guest lecturer for something.” Reid said still looking amazed.   
  
This startled the team. Hotch was about to start asking Reid more questions when there was a knock on the door and he turned to see a pixie-like woman. She had long black hair tied neatly in a braid down her back which drew attention to her high cheekbones and pale pink, cupids bow lips. Her malachite green eyes were frames by thick lashes and a pair of black-rimmed butterfly glasses seemed to make her eyes even larger. She was dressed casually as she was wearing a pair of stonewashed blue jeans that she had paired with a slightly oversized red shirt printed with a gold lion and a pair of sneakers. She was also wearing a black double-breasted coat but it was hanging open.  
  
Morgan's jaw dropped as he looked her over a few times as if trying to confirm what he was seeing. Reid had looked up at the knock and smiled when he saw her.  
  
“Will! Hey, thanks for coming at such short notice. Guys, this is Willow Potter, we've been friends since we were children,” He said as he stood to greet her properly.  
  
“Penn, good to see you. It's been too long.” Her voice was soft yet it carried a hint of steal that let them know she was stronger than she looked. “So, not to be rude but what's up? You didn't say what was wrong on the phone and while I was trying to organise some time off to visit, you wouldn't have asked me to come here unless something had gone seriously wrong.” She smiled sadly as she spoke which helped to keep the tone light despite its severity.  
  
“The case we are working on has us baffled but what was of concern to me was how much the victims look like you. Take a look,” he said waving a hand towards the board. The details each of the women's deaths weren't written up but the team was worried about how she would react. She was quiet for a moment as she frowned at the board.  
  
“I don't know much about the case but I can see why Penn was worried, they do look a lot like me. Are there any details you can share without compromising your case?” Her voice was flat and gave nothing away which made Reid smile slightly. However, it was Hotch who answered her question.  
  
“They were all raped and tortured before being dismembered while they were still alive, then dumped in high profile areas. The problem is the unsub is leaving absolutely no forensic evidence and we have no way of tracking who could be next due to the changes he makes to his victims.” His voice was clinical as he spoke almost as though he was trying to shock her.   
  
“Any symbols left behind from where ever the women were taken from or even somewhere on their homes?” Willow asked calmly as she processed what had been said. Reid's head snapped towards her.  
  
“You think they might be part of Riddle's group?” He asked with a voice laced with worry.  
  
“The MO is identical to three members of his old group, so yes. I may be a teacher these days but I had way too much exposure to those sadists to be able to forget that type of thing,” Was her only reply as Morgan placed a video call to Garcia and Hotch called an officer over to ask him the same question.  
  
“What type of symbol are we talking about here? And why is it important?” Hotch demanded as the officer went to double-check.  
  
“Potentially, yes it is. If your unsub is who I'm thinking it is, your case just got a lot bigger than it already is. The symbol would be a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.” Weirdly enough the description of the symbol seemed to come in distorted stereo as Willow and Garcia spoke at the same time. Willow's eyes closed as if she was in pain as she heard Garcia's words.   
  
“It was found at each of the victims' houses, burned into the door frame.” Garcia continued before looking at Willow, “Oh, um, hi. Sorry, I didn't expect anyone except my team to be there, I'm Penelope Garcia,” Garcia said slightly flustered.  
  
“It's alright, unfortunately, your case just got a whole lot worse and more complicated, though,” Willow said with a sigh.  
  
“Riddle's group?” Reid asked sadly.  
  
“Riddle's group,” Willow confirmed.  
  
“Would someone please explain what the significance of 'Riddle's group' is?” Hotch demanded. Willow and Reid exchanged a look before Willow looked at Hotch calmly.  
  
“As much as I want to explain it's the significance, I am bound by law to only be able to give you a highly summarised version until I know what everyone is cleared to know. I know Reid has the correct clearance for this, however that has nothing to do with his FBI clearance and more to do with the fact that he has been my voice of sanity since I was ten.”  
  
The team stared at Willow even as Reid watched her calmly. He could see the exact moment she came up with a plan and started smiling as a glint that normally spelt trouble for the one on the receiving end appeared in her eyes.   
  
“Hey, Garcia?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Try inputting Tom Marvelo Riddle, 1981 and Potter. It will throw up an alert that that is restricted information. It will also bring an agent to your office, which means I need to be clearly visible in your video call screen.”  
  
“Um, ok but”  
  
“The higher up's will block my requests to get the team read in. By them seeing me sitting with everyone here it'll force them to read every one in. If only to give me the chewing out that they'll want to give me.” Willow had a cheeky smirk as she said the last bit. “I hate when politics get in the way of getting a case solved and I'm not afraid of getting into trouble to get my way.”  
  
The team stared at her but Garcia did as Willow had suggested only to jump as her door was thrown open. The agent froze when he saw Willow smirking on the video screen.  
  
“Potter!” The agent growled.   
  
“You going to stonewall me or am I going to be allowed to get these guys read in so that we can get more killers off the streets? At the rate, you lot generally fuck around before you make a decision you are going to have another crisis on your hands that will make Newt's Mess look like a stroll in the park.” Willow had crossed her arms and was speaking to the agent calmly, however, the team could see the clear challenge in her eyes. “I will be reading in Agent Hotchner regardless of your decision just so you know if only so he knows why his team isn't going to be able to do the final takedown.”   
  
“What is it with you Brits thinking that you can do this type of thing?” The agent said throwing his hands up in the air.   
  
“Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that I have experience with chasing DE's and those associated with them? The fact that I took out their leader? Or maybe it is the fact that you are so concerned with possible outcomes that you can't see the forest for the trees? How many cases does this team solve per year? And how many cases do you lot get that sit stagnant on your desk that  
would

benefit from their expertise but don't get it because they are not read in? With all due respect, I'd recommend sorting out your priorities and realise that you could save more lives by asking for the help that you obviously need.” Willow stared at the agent until he suddenly threw his hands in the air.  
  
“On your head be it, Potter! But it's you that will be going before Lopez to defend your actions here. Don't forget to get them to sign the forms.” The agent turned on his heel then staked out the room slamming the door behind him.  
  
“That went well,” Willow said with a sigh of relief, flopping back into a chair her eyes closed as the unseen tension drained out of her.  
  
The team looked at her with a touch of confusion while Reid put his hand on her shoulder, silently asking if she was alright.   
  
“I'm ok, Penn,” she said quietly as Garcia let out a yelp as information suddenly became available to her.  
  
“Am I reading this correctly?” Garcia asked bemusedly, “Because if I am then I have to wonder how all of this stays hidden so well and how.”  
  
Reid motioned for everyone to take a seat while he closed the door and made the room as secure as he could. Willow cast a couple of discrete spells without taking out her wand and when Reid sat down next to her, the two of them tag-teamed with each other to get the team up to speed about the existence of magic. To say that their reactions would have been comical under any other circumstance was an understatement.   
  
“I'm sorry, we've seen a whole lot of weird things due to cases over the last few years but I just can't accept that magic is real with no proof.” Morgan spluttered.  
  
“That's fair. I didn't think magic was real either until I met Willow. Seriously, we didn't even know what it was until she was elven. All we knew was that if she didn't want us to be found, we weren't. If she didn't want food to go off or lose temperature or melt, it stayed the way it was.” Reid said with a smile as he remembered everything that had happened that summer.   
  
“Am I the only one that's confused as to how you two met?” Rossi said suddenly from where he was sitting.   
  
“We met and became friends when I helped her hide from her bully of a cousin while her family was in Las Vegas on a business trip for her uncle back when I was nine,” Reid explained calmly as Willow looked over his copy of the case files to get herself up to speed.   
  
“Willow had just turned 10 at the time and her Uncle's boss had insisted that she joined the family to give a better impression. We kept in touch after Willow had to return to the UK through letters and later through the odd phonecall whenever Willow could sneak one in. Oh, sure it had been difficult as neither of us had had much money so paying for our letters to be posted to each other but we made do. We had a small problem when she went to Hogwarts and we had to figure out how to get the letters to each other without the normal mail systems. In a fit of desperation, Willow eventually wrote to Gringotts and they recommended we get communication boxes. Willow ordered a pair through them and soon after that, we had each had a beautifully decorated wooden box inlaid with mother of pearl that had been enchanted to send whatever was placed in them to the matching box. It saves on postage and considering how much we wrote to each other that was probably a good thing.”   
  
The team smiled at Reid as he got lost in his memories. It was clear to them that there was something more between these two but they didn't know if the two of them had explored it yet so they stayed silent.  
  
“Before we continue with this case, can I just say that those details you asked me to look up are just tragic,” Garcia said suddenly.  
  
“I'm sorry about that Garcia. Getting you to try to pull the file regarding my parents' murder and the murder attempt on myself was the easiest way I could think of to get people to respond. Most people know I remember the night and more importantly, they know that I remember my mother's screams and my stepdad yelling for her to get away... Anyway, it's because of my views on it that it would automatically be flagged if someone searches for it.” Willow explained with an apologetic smile while the team, other than Reid, looked at her with a mix of sympathy and horror.  
  
“Wait, stepfather? I thought he was your father.” Reid said suddenly.  
  
“I did too until I read my mother's diary a week ago,” Willow quickly fished it out and handed said diary to him, “It turns out James was my stepfather and that he blood adopted me when I was born. Mom fell pregnant to a guy here in the States when she was 15 but managed to delay her pregnancy with a potion. She got hit with a spell that cancelled out that potion at some stage and after that, she hid it with baggy clothes and robes until she gave birth to me. She didn't give many details about who he could be though.”  
  
“She gave one that you would have missed but that gives my suspicion a bit more credence. She gives his first name and the name of the camp she was at when she fell pregnant.” Reid said quietly as he looked through it quickly.   
  
“Reid?”   
  
“Pretty Boy?”  
  
“Hotch, it's the same camp as the one you were telling us about the other day and...” Reid trailed off.  
  
“And?” Hotch prompted.  
  
“And your first name. She's written that she didn't get your surname and that her parents told her about three months worth of letters that they received and put aside for her but that her sister destroyed out of spite. It was what lead to their final fallout with each other and why she never wrote back, she didn't have an address to post them to.” Reid said looking at Hotch who was staring at both Reid and Willow in shock.   
  
“Apparently her parents had sent both of them to the camp as a last-ditch effort to reconcile their relationship. Both girls attended the camp under a false name and Lily wore contacts to hide her unusual eye colour. Either way, you'll need to do a paternity test to confirm all this,” He added.  
  
“As nice as it would be to find out my birth father is alive and that it's possible for me to get to know him, we have a case that needs to be solved first. We are both still alive and I think I've proven I'm really hard to kill so the case takes priority right now,” Willow said with a wry smile which seemed to make the team realise that they had gone seriously off-topic.  
  
With all the paperwork sorted for them knowing about magic, it was relatively simple for them to piece together why there was no normal forensic evidence. A quick test from the MME (Magical Medical Examiner) told them which spells were used on each of the women, which also gave them the biggest clue as to who the unsub was.   
  
“Well other than a rather violent severing charm being used to dismember each of your victims there is significant evidence of the Cruciatus Curse, mild use of the blood boiling hex and the last spell used on each of the victims before they were killed was the mutilation hex. Magic signature detection spells have shown two unique yet similar signatures leading me to believe that your killers are siblings. Oh and because this was done with a spell, a normal coroner would have missed it but each victim had the dark mark on the underside of their patella, placed their post mortem.” The MME's voice was forcibly detached from what he was describing which told Willow just how bad each victim was.   
  
With a quick word of thanks to the MME, she made her way back to the team to give them the details. As she walked she went over different ways to track down the Lestrange brothers, muttering as she went which earned her several side-eyed looks for the local LEO's. After walking into the room and giving them all the details she knew a plan was quickly hatched and just as quickly put into place. Neither Reid nor Hotch was too happy about the plan but they agreed that it was the best they could come up with.  
  
Willow would play as the bait and several American Aurors would be her back up. This kept the BAU away from the scene and safely away from any spellfire but it also meant that they were essentially handing the case over to the people who were best equipped to handle it. Their part was done and the best part was they would have drastically less paperwork to do then they normally would. That didn't stop any of them from worrying about Willow though so their Auror contact decided to have a bit of a QnA session with them.   
  
It didn't take long for the team to ask about potions and it here that the Auror slipped up slightly. Hotch asked if wizarding kind had a way of working out who a sample of blood belonged to which lead to a discussion about heritage potions and how they worked in general as well as if they were affected by blood adoptions. Since the Auror didn't know all the circumstances he had readily answered the question and offered to show them how they worked. A quick look at Reid had him sighing and reaching into his wallet and bringing out what looked to be a letter faded from age. What scared them was the amount of what looked like blood that was staining the page. Reid refused to acknowledge the questioning glances as he asked the Auror how much blood was needed. Seeing the letter and guessing it was important to the man holding it, he admitted that they only needed a tiny piece if they were just trying to identify the person the blood belonged to and the next of kin.   
  
Reid handed the Auror the letter and with a quick spell, a small piece was removed without touching the contents of the letter. With the bloody paper added to the potion, he proceeded to drop a fountain pen into the pot he had used since it looked less suspicious. Once the potion had vanished due to the pen absorbing it the Auror was quick to place it on a clean sheet of paper and the BAU team watched in amazement as Willow's name appeared in a neat print quickly followed  
by the names Lily Evens (Potter) and Aaron Hotchner. The name James Potter also appeared but with a line next to it that said it was a blood adoption.  
  
Everyone in the room stared at the results. Reid ran a hand over his face knowing he would now have to deal with an overprotective Hotch if he ever wanted to act on his feelings. Hotch, on the other hand, was wondering how he was going to get to know his adult daughter and what he should be doing to help her. The rest of the team were just as unsure of what they should be doing.  
  
After a further three hours of debates about magic that had followed the awkward silence brought about by the announcement of Willow's paternity, the door finally opened. It was Willow much to their relief however Spencer was quick to notice that she had changed into a button-down blouse and that there was a bandage peeking out from under the collar.  
  
“Are you ok?” He blurted out without thinking.  
  
“Yeah, I'm going to be on a potions regimen for the next month at least but I'm ok. It seems Dolenhov was with them and he decided to use his speciality curse against me. I dodged the worst of it by creating a marble sheet in front of me but I didn't make it big enough so the edge of the curse caught my shoulder.” Willow reassured him with a soft smile. She walked in and sat down on one of the free chairs tilting her head back and closed her eyes.  
  
“I think I'm a little out of practice with my dodging,” her wry comment made Spencer shake his head at her.  
  
“I think you've done more than enough of that type of thing in your life to have earned your retirement into being just a teacher, Will,” Spencer said just as wryly. “Besides it's been how long since you stepped down from being an Auror? Cut yourself some slack Will.”  
  
“You were an Auror? What made you decide to become one and why the drastic career change?” Hotch asked quietly. Willow looked at him in confusion until Reid handed her the paper from earlier with the heritage potion results on it. Her expression cleared up as she read it even as she sighed.  
  
“To understand that you need a fuller picture of what I've lived through. That is a very long story though and I know that this room will be needed by the police here so would it be possible to move this discussion to my suite at the hotel? I promise it's large enough for everyone to be able to sit comfortably.” Willow's voice was soft as she spoke, the edge of sadness making it apparent to the team that she didn't want to talk about her life and that she was giving herself the time to prepare herself to do just that.  
  
They made their way back to the hotel that Willow was staying at and were soon settled on the couches comfortably. Willow had brought a stone bowl out from the bedroom area of the suite and had set it on the coffee table. She had explained what it was and how it worked as well as the fact that this one had a projection function so they wouldn't have to touch anything in order to see what she needed to show them. She used a fairly happy memory from her visit to Vegas to show them how it worked and Spencer had blushed a bright shade of scarlet at the teams cooing over how cute he was when he was young.  
  
Soon enough though everyone was wishing for something stronger than coffee as they listened and watched some of the important parts of Willow's life. They soon understood why she had felt like she had no choice but to be an Auror and were even more grateful that she had stayed in contact with Spencer as he had been the one to act as her sounding board when she had faced the choice of retiring from the force while still in one piece. Sure she had her scars but she hadn't lost any limbs like some of the others.   
  
As for Hotch, he couldn't be prouder of his newly discovered daughter if he had tried. She was strong and focused and had been through what most would consider to be hell. Heck, they had had unsubs that had gone through less than what she had and yet they had snapped but his daughter was still standing strong. She was still able to laugh and smile despite everything which impressed him tremendously.  
  
It was very late by the time Willow had finished her story and the room service cart had come and gone with meals and desserts for everyone. The team had tried to pay for their meal but Willow had waved them off saying that she had it covered while Spencer watched in amusement, eventually bursting out laughing when they tried to insist.  
  
“What do you find so funny, Petty Boy? It's only fair that we pay for ourselves as shouldn't have to cover all of what we ate out of a teacher's salary!” Morgan demanded heatedly, which made Willow give in to her laughter as well.  
  
“Morgan, I have never touched my salary, most of it goes straight to charities to help orphans or those that are being abused. I live off of the interest my various investments make. To be honest, thanks to my inheritance I never have to work a day in my life and neither would my children or grandchildren. I work because I'd go mad otherwise. Besides, I like the fact that I'm teaching the next generation how to defend themselves.”  
  
They all headed to bed soon after that with Willow having transfigured most of the couches into very comfortable beds for everyone. It was only when JJ woke up in the middle of the night needing the toilet that she noticed that Reid was not on one of the transfigured beds and that there was a light shining through the crack of Willow's ajar bedroom door. A quick peek showed that Reid and Willow were both still awake and were talking to each other as the cuddled on the bed. Thankfully for her peace of mind, they were both fully dressed.


End file.
